@conradprabhu -
UVL Robotics, a leading global provider of drone-based solutions for logistics, says it is gearing up to roll out drone-based parcel delivery services in Muscat Governorate in partnership with local service providers.
The US-headquartered firm, which has a well-established presence in the Sultanate of Oman, affirmed in a recent post that drone-based day-to-day parcel delivery services will soon become a reality in the country, starting in the capital city.
“It is not magic! It is a new decision! Everyday commercial drone delivery for everyone! Very soon in Oman...” the California-based global firm declared.
A press statement retweeted by UVL Robotics said the delivery service will be the “first and only one of its kind” in the region. It quoted Eugene Grankin, UVL Robotics CEO, as stating that various authorisations for the launch and operation of drone-based delivery services were in the process of being finalised.
“It was a worth-while experience to give our technologies life. The UVL team has received the trust from local authorities to move the project forward – I’m very grateful to everyone who was engaged in the process. It is new milestone in the history of delivery service,” he said.
Over the past two years, a number of local Omani players have partnered with UVL Robotics to explore the potential for drone delivery services based on AI solutions.
Leading the list of local partners is Asyad Group, the Omani government’s integrated logistics flagship, which together with its affiliate Oman Post, has been trialling parcel deliveries over short and long distances. Asyad Group’s Oman Logistics Centre has also successfully carried out a robotic warehouse stock count using drones.
More recently, UVL Robotics has collaborated with Omani start-up Azim Technology Company to trial drone-based deliveries of parcels within the Special Economic Zone at Duqm (SEZAD). The Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ), which administers the country’s SEZs and free zones, has earmarked an 18 sq km area with SEZAD for drone and AI technology based initiatives.
Around the same time in October, UVL said it had carried out a successful trial involving last-mile parcel deliveries, which included the use of a specially designed UVL landing station “strategically located within the city limits to cover the main density clusters!”
UVL’s drone-based delivery capabilities were also demonstrated during Tropical Cyclone Shaheen last October, when severe flooding cut off parts of North and South Al Batinah, making deliveries of medicines possible only by drone. Working in partnership with Wareed, a digital platform specialising in healthcare, the drone operator enabled deliveries of medicine parcels to flood-stricken neighbourhoods with the support of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, Civil Aviation Authority and Royal Oman Police.
Last month, UVL signed an agreement with Omani logistics startup Mandoob to provide drone-base delivery services, adding to its expanding list of local partners.
Its imminent launch of parcel delivery services will ignite the growth of a wider industry around drone delivery services, it stated.
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
